Matilda Jacobs and the Dark Mark
by flipscarlett20
Summary: The story didn't end when Harry Potter's children hopped on the Hogwarts express, it began! For Matilda Jacobs, a muggle born forth year struggling to keep up with her classmates, a run in with the children of some seriously dark wizards spins her into an adventure she never thought she'd have!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

It was an unusually sunny day for October. Even though the trees of the Forbidden Forest were swaying dangerously in the strong winds and the cold air rushed like knifes through the school grounds, the high sun still cast patches of speckled light over the transfiguration classroom. The effect was that many students were having to squint through the sun at the hedgehogs they were supposed to be transforming into pincushions. This made the job even harder as eyes watered against the white light and the heat on their heavy robes made them all feel slightly drowsy.

'Jacobs,' a stern voice called out. A blonde girl turned to look at her companion curiously, but the girl being addressed by the professor made no sign that she had heard him.

'Jacobs,' the professor said loudly, causing more people to look.

The girl with long black hair jumped slightly. She had been staring dreamily across the classroom at Hugo Weasley. As soon as she jumped she felt his eyes meet hers and she flushed pink. Turning back to her hedgehog she saw what had caused all the commotion. A steady flow of fluffy white foam was issuing from her wand. It had completely engulfed her poor hedgehog which was staring at her dolefully. Its eyes the only part of it not covered in the foam. It was still spilling freely from the lazily held wand and was dripping heavily over the desk and onto the floor.

'Oh,' the girl said, flustered. Her blonde companion rolled her eyes and flicked her own wand at the mess. It vanished leaving the rather startled but clean hedgehog to retreat into a quivering ball. 'Thanks Sarah,' the girl muttered.

'Let us see your best efforts Jacobs,' Professor Tifildus said lazily, lowering his heavy grey eyebrows.

The girl waved her wand at the hedgehog in the motion they had been taught. She could feel every pair of eyes in the classroom on her. The hedgehog gave a feeble wiggle and a single silver pin replaced one of its spines. Someone at the back of the class laughed. The girl called Sarah turned swiftly and glared in the direction of the laugh.

'Poor, very poor,' Professor Tifildus said icily with one of his eyebrows now raised. 'I do not have to remind you Jacobs,' he continued, 'as I do not need to remind anyone else in this classroom, that next year you will be taking your O. , and these exams are of the greatest importance. Jacobs, extra homework for you, I expect a faultless pincushion by Thursday.'

With her face still burning, the girl left the classroom with her friend Sarah ahead of her, her eyes on her feet but snatching swift glances ahead of her for a sight of tousled auburn hair.

'I can't stand that Tifildus,' the girl seethed angrily as she reached the bathroom with Sarah. She slammed her school bag down on the sink. The loud thudding echoed around the stone walls. 'He's always picking on me, he _hates_ me.'

'Hate is a very strong word,' Sarah's tired voice drifted back though her toilet, 'he's like that with everyone.'

'Yeah but he really seems to hate me personally.' The girl grimaced at herself in the mirror. Her long black hair never stayed completely straight. It wasn't frizzy, more disarrayed. It gave her a 'just woke up,' look permanently. Her heavy fringe needed a trim as it was now almost covering her large blue-black eyes. The girl wrinkled her nose at her reflection. 'I mean,' she went on, 'at least the other teachers are tolerant of me, they do sometimes give me these 'aww bless,' looks. Sympathy for having the intelligence of a flobberworm.'

A heavy chain clattered into use and Sarah immerged from her cubicle, looking harassed. 'Matilda Jacobs you are much more intelligent than a flobberworm.'

'Thanks,' Matilda said coldly, 'but I was exaggerating, I realise my intelligence far outstrips that of a flobberworm.'

'Oh I know,' Sarah said annoyed, 'I was just, well, oh why did you say it then?'

'I dunno,' Matilda said sighing deeply, 'I'm just frustrated I guess.'

'Your only problem is confidence,' Sarah said over the sound of the water as she washed her hands. 'I've seen you do really well when you think no one's looking, you just crack under pressure, like today for example.'

'Well that's great,' Matilda said sarcastically, 'next year I'll just ask the examiners to turn their backs, 'I did I really great bit of magic there, honest, please give me an O.' Anyway, how's anyone supposed to get over confidence issues with twerpy old Tifildus breathing down their necks every lesson?'

'You're loads better now;' Sarah reassured her, 'you were really terrible in our second year. And remember how you barely passed the exams in our first year?'

'No,' Matilda said scathingly, 'I'd forgotten actually, thanks for opening up old wounds.' She was annoyed with the way Sarah did this; she always tried to help the situation but ended up just offending Matilda and making it worse.

'Well there are loads of things you are good at,' Sarah shot back trying to save herself, 'it's really just transfiguration and-'

'Potions,' Matilda cut in glumly, 'old Slughorn has it in for me as well though.'

'Yes, but you are good at lots of other things,' Sarah continued reassuringly.

'I'm the school joke,' Matilda said angrily as she grabbed her bag and followed Sarah out of the bathroom and down a staircase, narrowly avoiding the trick step. 'Maybe I'm a squib?' Matilda said.

'You can't be a squib,' Sarah said lazily as though she had all these concerns before and had put herself into an automatic way of dealing with them. 'Your parents are florists Tilda, if you didn't have any magical ability you'd be a muggle.'

'Oh yeah,' Matilda said, 'see I am thick. Maybe I'm muggle then? Maybe then sent the letter to the wrong person, maybe my brother should be here.'

'_Tilda,_' Sarah suddenly said very sharply turning swiftly on the spot to face her friend. 'How many times do we have to go through this? Every time Tifildus shows you up in Transfiguration we have to go through this,' she imitated Matilda quite successfully, 'ohh I'm _so_ thick, I'm the school joke_. Honestly!_ You need reminding that Professor Longbottom had doubts he was magical, thought he was a squib too-'

'And then he went on to defy Voldemort and now he's a wizarding hero,' Matilda finished for her, annoyed, 'I know, you've told me a million times.'

'And you've told me a million times that you're thick.' Sarah said. She was half angry but her tone suggested that the conversation was over.

'If only the rest of school was more like Quidditch,' Matilda sighed, 'cos that I'm really good at.'

'Won't be too confident after we beat you on Saturday,' a familiar arrogant but playful voice said as Matilda and Sarah crossed the great hall for lunch.

'Alright Potter?' Matilda said turning to face the boy who had spoken. It was a fifth year, James Potter, looking so much like the pictures of his father that Matilda had seen; thin with round glasses, the only differences being the eyes that were bright brown instead of green, the slight touches of red in his hair and the absence of a lightning bolt scar upon his forehead.

'Jacobs, Abbott,' he nodded to the two girls in a way that was clearly supposed to be charming, 'looking forward to knocking you out of the running for the cup.'

'Yeah?' Matilda said with an eyebrow raised and her arms folded, 'well we've won it for three years in a row now, thanks to yours truly.'

'Pride comes before a fall,' James replied smirking.

'You must be in a bottomless pit then,' Matilda said. She saw with a jolt in her stomach that one of the people who laughed was Hugo Weasley.

A smile also flickered across James' face. Matilda knew that he wasn't malicious, it was just pre-match banter. Despite James' obvious flaws he had an honest heart. She guessed that his father's fame had gone to his head.

'You're looking a little peaky Jacobs,' he said looking at her curiously. 'Are you sure you're going to be able to play Saturday? You're not catching a cold?'

'The only thing I'll be catching is the snitch,' Matilda said before turning swiftly from him.

'We'll find out on Saturday,' he called after her before sitting down at the Gryffindor table next to his friend Fred Jordan. James followed the progress of her stroll to the Hufflepuff table with her friend Sarah Abbott.

'Who does James Potter think he is?' Sarah said angrily as soon as they sat down.

Matilda helped herself to sandwiches and shook her head while her mouth was too full to speak. Swallowing she said, 'he's alright, it's just a bit of fun. Except for those lot, they mean it,' she jerked her thumb towards the Slytherin table. If we beat Gryffindor on Saturday we'll have to play them, and they play dirty.' Sarah looked down at her jacked potato; she had gone a little green. 'You'll be fine,' Matilda carried on, clapping her on the back, 'you were really good at your tryout. I mean, a match is a bit different cos of the crowds and the pressure but I'm sure you'll be fine. You just have to ignore the fact that it's so important, pretend it's just another training session, even though there's a lot riding on it.'

'Er, thanks…' Sarah said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Matilda swerved from the bludger heading straight for her forehead. She changed direction so dramatically that James Potter who had not seen the bludger soar past her, thought she had seen something, and changed direction to follow her. Matilda took advantage of this and heading into a daring dive. But James wasn't stupid, after only a few seconds of being fooled he pulled out of his own dive to applause from the Gryffindor crowd. Matilda tilted her Nimbus five thousand upward, narrowly avoiding a collision with the pitch. Angry with herself for trying a trick like that, Matilda rose to meet James above the other players and continued her search for the snitch. A dreamy voice called out the score, forty thirty to Hufflepuff. Matilda saw Clarrisa Thomas resting lazily on the stands, barely watching the game with her large grey protruding eyes. Matilda couldn't help laughing to herself. Clarrisa Thomas was a little strange to say the least.

Matilda kept a close watch over James as he did to her. One eye on her opponent and the other on the pitch, meticulously checking every angle for a glimmering hint of gold. The dreamy voice called out.

'Abbott of Hufflepuff with the quaffle.' Matilda let her eye wander slightly to where Sarah was darting towards the Gryffindor goals. She approached the keeper Braxton with determination. Matilda was so proud, she was even better than she had been at her tryouts and all week at practice. The first match nerves seemed to have given way to the exhilaration of the game.

'Hufflepuff score,' Clarrisa said and Matilda couldn't help but punch the air joyfully. 'Fifty thirty to Hufflepuff.'

Matilda's moment of celebration cost her dearly. She saw James speeding to the far left corner of the pitch and at first thought that he was trying the same thing that she had.

'Nice try,' she muttered under her breath. But soon she realised that she had been mistaken. Glinting tantalisingly close to James' outstretched fingers there was a tiny whizzing golden ball. Panicked, Matilda darted to where he was as fast as her broom would allow. The rushing wind made her eyes water as she held herself flat to the wood. One of the Hufflepuff beaters noticed she was in trouble and swung his bat ferociously toward a bludger which darted straight at James, blocking his hand from the snitch. He was forced to pull himself off course and scowled angrily as the ball drifted out of sight. Matilda followed its progress and sped toward it, putting her body into the dive. The bludger that had nearly attached James now came spinning towards her. She dodged it just in time as it rippled through her streaming hair. Out of corner of her eye she saw Hugo Weasley waving his beaters bat triumphantly. She couldn't help but feel a little hurt before she remembered it didn't really mean anything, it was just a game.

The snitch glimmered ahead of her and she felt James get closer to her. Soon they were almost parallel though she was a little ahead of him. Matilda seized her moment and made a grab for the snitch. She caught it. The tiny ball pulsed and wriggled in her hand as she dismounted to the roaring cheers of the Hufflepuff crowd and the ecstatic cries and hugs of her team-mates.

'Jacobs catches the snitch,' Clarrisa's dreamy voice called out, 'Hufflepuff win.' Matilda could barely hear her over the din of the team.

Matilda was the last to leave the changing room due to the number of Hufflepuffs crowding her with congratulations. As she slipped on her shoes and socks they all thumped her on the back. Matilda reflected that she was a hero on the quidditch pitch but a disaster in the classroom. Quidditch felt so easy and so natural, growing up with the internet and TV and electricity, she hadn't felt right waving a thin piece of wood at something and expecting things to happen, maybe Sarah was right, confidence was her problem. Thanks to her Hufflepuff had won the cup three years in a row, something which had never happened in recent history. Matilda had been the only first year accepted onto the team since the famous Harry Potter was at Hogwarts. She wished she felt so sure of her school work. She allowed herself to feel a little jealous of Sarah who was much better than her in lessons and had now proven herself to be a wonderful chaser as well. Matilda pushed the jealously out of her mind as quickly as it came, angry and ashamed at herself. She should be happy for Sarah.

It had started to rain as Matilda left the changing rooms. The pitch was now deserted apart from a few stragglers in front of Matilda. But they weren't making their way towards the entrance. The stragglers were hunched in a corner of the pitch, there were about six of them under an enchanted umbrella which had been expanded over all their heads. They were all huddled close together and were whispering intently. They were all Slytherins. Matilda thought it looked very suspicious, they had obviously planned it so that no one would notice a few people hanging back after the match. But it was starting to get dark now. Matilda fought a little internal battle, should she ignore it? They were so immersed in conversation she was sure they hadn't seen her as she hovered between the pitch and the way back to the school. Matilda swung her broom over her shoulder and crept over to them. When she was as a safe distance she pulled a long fleshy string from her pocket and inserted one end into her ear. She could hear the Slytherins talking as though they were whispering directly into her ear.

'People aren't even afraid to say the name anymore,' one of them was saying, 'thanks to Potter they have no respect.'

'Everyone thinks the danger is over,' Matilda recognised the sow drawling voice of Scorpius Malfoy. 'It's been over twenty years and they think the dark arts are defeated, they're fools.'

'Pure-blood is like a dirty word these days,' another said, a girl, 'we can't be proud of our heritage, it's the mudbloods who have been through so much, the poor mudbloods.' She finished in a mocking voice.

'I think we've agreed that we need to bring some fear back to these people,' Malfoy said.

'How?' Another said, 'something trivial? A prank? A sign?'

'Yes,' Malfoy said, 'a sign, the dark mark.'

Matilda gasped. The extendable ear fell out and she scrabbled to get it back in.

Some of the Slytherins gasped too. 'Are you sure?'

'Why?' Scorpius Malfoy said, 'are you scared?'

'No!' The Girl said, 'I think we should do it.'

'My grandfather was in the Dark Lord's inner circle;' Malfoy said proudly. 'My father was personally given a special mission. I do not want them to be forgotten or condemned; they fought just as the mudbloods did.'

An older boy with a gruff voice said, 'you're right, we have to do anything necessary to show them that the threat of dark magic is not over.'

There were murmurs of agreement. 'But first,' Malfoy said, silencing the others, 'we need to single out those who will try to stop us, or at least make our task harder. Those interfering do-gooders must be stopped.' Everybody agreed. 'The Potters,' Malfoy continued, 'we need to make their lives as miserable as possible. We've waited for too long.'

Matilda waited for someone to speak, her hands shaking slightly. But no one did. The group was dispersing; they were heading straight for her. Matilda jerked the extendable ear from her own, her heart racing. She rushed away from the pitch and into the darkening night and back into the school, praying that no one had seen her. As she crossed the entrance hall she was about to turn in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room when someone cut in front of her.

'Out of my way mudblood,' Scorpius Malfoy sneered. Matilda was angry, but she knew from his tone that he had no idea she had overheard the meeting.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

'Potter,' Matilda shouted, running through the corridor and nearly knocking a tiny first year off his feet. James had his Firebolt Mark 2 glimmering over his shoulder; he was determinedly walking across the corridor a few metres away from Matilda, approaching the marble staircase. He wasn't paying Matilda any attention as she continued to shout and rush after him. 'Oi Potter!' Matilda shouted again.

James turned just as she reached him making her stop abruptly. 'I have a first name Jacobs,' he said frowning, 'it's James.'

'I have one too,' Matilda returned coldly.

'Good I'll use it,' he said just as coldly. 'What do you want? I'm on my way to practice; we have to do something about our failing standards.'

'Don't flatter yourself,' Matilda shot back, 'we won because our team is better than yours.'

'If you just wanted to gloat about the match-'

'No, no,' Matilda responded immediately, 'I need to talk to you about something I overheard, 'it's really important.'

Matilda told James everything she had over heard. She told him about the rallying Slytherins, the anger at pure-blood meaning nothing, Scorpius' determination to send the dark mark into the sky and most importantly to James, the plan to get the Potters out of the way. To Matilda's absolute shock, James laughed heartily.

'Don't you _care?_' she asked shocked.

'Not really,' James said still laughing, 'you know Scorpius Malfoy, he's all talk. He'd say anything to make himself seem important.'

'I know,' Matilda said, 'I know Scorpius Malfoy believe me. I have potions with the Slytherins and he's completely foul to me but you didn't hear them James, they're really going to do something.'

'So what?' James laughed again, 'let them conjure the dark mark, no one cares anymore. Voldemort's been dead for twenty-three years.'

'Yes but don't you think the Slytherins are right about something?' Matilda said, frustrated with his attitude. 'Everybody's become too complacent. They think the threat of dark magic is over. If sending the Dark Mark isn't going to scare anyone, then the feeling behind it should. They were talking about the old Death Eaters as though they were heroes. Lucius and Draco Malfoy-'

James interrupted her with a snort. They were terrified by the end,' he said, 'Dad told me his whole family was clamouring to get out of Voldemort's 'inner circle,' as Scorpius put it. Lucius Malfoy failed to bring Dad to Voldemort twice, and Draco's 'special mission?' he couldn't go through with it. After that his life was hanging on by a threat.'

'Even so I don't think you should ignore this,' Matilda said, 'you should watch your back. They sounded really angry, all this stuff about respecting Voldemort's name.'

'Yeah a lot of the old pure-bloods were angry about that,' James said, 'after my dad campaigned for the name to be said freely. For a while he needed to have ministry protection. But that was years ago.'

'Makes me wonder why they've only started to act now,' Matilda said, 'it makes me think they've been planning this for a while.'

'I'll look into it,' James said earnestly, Matilda raised an eyebrow. 'I'm not humoring you, honestly,' he continued, 'I just don't think we need to panic yet, until we know they're actually going to do something.' Matilda nodded. 'Would you go me a favor though,' James said, fixed her eyes with his, 'will you not mention this to Albus or Lily. Lily's only in her second year and I just don't want them to know that they're being singled out.'

'Of course,' Matilda said earnestly, 'I won't tell them.'

'What happened when the Slytherins found out you'd been eavesdropping?' James asked, looking concerned, 'I bet they weren't too happy.'

'Actually I think I got away in time,' Matilda said, 'although I met Scorpius Malfoy in the corridor. He was pretty stuck up as usual, pushed me out of the way, called me a Mudblood, but I don't think he-'

'_What!_' James suddenly shouted, 'he called you _what!_'

'It's okay,' Matilda said, shocked by his reaction, 'really, I don't mind, it doesn't matter.'

'_Yes it does!_' James said angrily, 'it's been twenty-three years and people like that still can't learn. I should tell Professor McGonagall.'

'Don't involve anybody,' Matilda begged him, 'I'm just glad they didn't know I spied on them.'

There was a slight awkward pause following James' anger. Matilda avoided his eyes. Did she really want to do nothing about the insult, it hadn't seemed significant at the time, but it was representative of a school of thought that everyone believed long gone. It didn't help that she felt so much less magical than everyone else at the school.

'Do you realise,' James finally said, 'that this is the first conversation we've had that hasn't been about-'

'Quidditch? Yeah.' Matilda finished for him.

'Great game, but the way,' he said looking mainly at his feet, running a hand through his red tinted hair. 'You're an amazing flier.'

'Thanks,' Matilda grinned at him, 'so you finally admit it. You're pretty good yourself.'

'No, no,' James insisted, 'did you know you were the only first year to get on a house team since-'

'Your dad yeah,' Matilda said, 'a few people might have mentioned it. You certainly talk about him a lot.'

'I'm very proud to have him as a father,' James said, looking slightly insulted.

'Yeah,' Matilda said, 'you should be.' Another awkward silence passed between them, James seemed reluctant to leave, his feet shifting slightly but the rest of him staying firmly in place. 'Could I-' Matilda said in a rushed, embarrassed voice, 'could I- hold your broom?' James laughed and handed it over to her. 'wow,' she whispered, 'I never saw a mark one, but this is incredible! The weight must make it effective in high winds. And this join is exactly the same width of the handle, the same with these end twigs, there must be no dipping at all-'  
They talked about the Firebolt Mark two for a few minuets until James realised he was seriously running out of time to practise and Matilda grudgingly gave it back to him.

'I-I have to ask you something else,' Matilda said looking at her feet.

'Oh yeah?' James asked. 'I actually wanted to ask you something too, for a while… But with the game and now this I-I haven't really had a chance.'

'Oh,' Matilda said taken aback, 'what is it.'

'Oh, you go first,' James said, blushing.

'Well,' Matilda started, going rather pink herself, 'it's sort of embarrassing. I wanted to know if- if Hugo Weasley is seeing anybody,' she finished hurriedly.

'Oh,' James said blankly, his face falling from its nervous smile. 'I dunno, I guess he's kinda famous, gets it a lot, his Grandfather being who he is, well, yeah I dunno. Erm see you around Matilda.'

'Wait ,' Matilda said as he rushed off in a blur, apparently desperate to get away from her. Her stomach fell a little. 'What did you want to ask me?'

'It's not important,' he shouted back.

'But you said-'

'Doesn't matter,' James said with a slight tone of anger in his voice. Then he disappeared from sight, leaving Matilda staring after him, bewildered.


	4. Chapter 4

Top of Form

Chapter 4

The next morning there was a lot of commotion in the great hall over breakfast. This was due to the news which had been plastered all over the front page of the Daily Prophet. The few students who bought the paper daily were the first to know the news and the others had been told through the gossip which was now circulating. As Matilda was late to join the Hufflepuff table she had no idea what everyone was talking about.

'What's going on?' She asked Sarah impatiently as she sat down and helped herself to toast. Sarah handed her the Daily Prophet without saying anything but with an excited grin on her face. There was a large moving picture showing the Minister for Magic shaking hands with an unknown wizard. The headline read:

POSSIBLE RETURN FOR THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT.

Matilda gasped and read on.

_Minister for magic Arthur Weasley, pictured here shaking hands_

_with Boris Yoglensin, has emerged this morning from a series of secret_

_discussions. The Prophet can now reveal that these talks were surrounded _

_around the possible idea that the time is right to bring back the famous_

_and celebrated Triwizard Tournament. The event, which was last held at _

_Hogwarts nearly thirty years ago and widely seen to be a disaster due to the rise_

_of Lord Voldemort, may be taking place in as soon as two years. The location is_

_as yet undisclosed as well as many official facts about the recent meetings. _

_The minister has, however, realised this statement:_

'_We feel that the time is ripe to build connections with foreign Wizards_

_once again. With the threat of Voldemort well and truly over the ministry feels_

_that far from the terror of the event last time, this time will be a success and_

_an event to bring joy and triumph on the school who wins.'_

_Arthur Weasley, who took over the role of minister from Kingsley_

_Shacklebolt (arguably the most successful and popular minister for over a _

_Century) has already been greeted with much support from the_

_Puplic for this idea as well as for his recent muggle protection acts-_

Matilda looked up from the paper into Sarah's beaming face.

'Isn't it exciting?' she said, 'only two years! I'll be seventeen by them! I'm definitely going to enter. Will you?'

'I think I read somewhere that the champions are picked at Halloween,' Matilda said glumly, 'just my luck to have a birthday in November. Besides,' she continued with a hopeless laugh, 'can you imagine me competing? I can't magic myself out of a paper bag.'

As Sarah responded with sympathy and insistence that Matilda wasn't stupid, the other students around them were discussing the same thing. Most in excited voices arguing about what they thought the tasks might be and if they would be old enough to compete and who they thought could win it. Some however, had their heads in their hands and were whispering about the boy from their own house who had been killed in the last Tournament. Matilda couldn't help but worry about what she had overheard the Slytherins saying. Was this another sign that people were becoming too complacent? Unlike many of the excited people in the hall, Matilda scanned the rest of the newspaper, as if trying to find more evidence. Her eyes were drawn to two articles on adjacent pages over the centrefold.

ANOTHER TRIUMPH FOR THE WEASLEY FAMILY

Matilda was drawn straight to it, for obvious reasons.

_Hermione Weasley won yet another battle for elf rights today as she was_

_able to increase the minimum wage for all free elves by a substantial two Galleons._

Matilda smiled widely, she had heard of Hermione Weasley's constant struggle for elf rights and had to agree with her policies. No matter what anyone said about how happy they were, it sounded too much like slavery to her. The other article which had attached Matilda's eye had done so for very different reasons. She was slightly worried as she looked at the excited faces all around her.

FEARS FOR SAFETY AS AZKABAN REGARDED INSECURE

_Since ex Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt removed Azkaban from the_

_control of the dementors some members of the wizarding public have voiced their_

_concerns for the prision's safety. Despite having realised the official statement _

_twenty years ago, the whispers continue. The current Minister backs up Shacklebolt's conviction that highly trained wizard guards are just as effective as keeping the prisoners safely locked up. Despite the fact that that no one has escaped the prison for the duration of these years, this reporter has to argue that it is only a matter of time. Arthur Weasley has backed up the previous minister's statement one hundred percent saying that he feels much safer working for a ministry not aligned with these creatures. Well, this reporter is glad he feels so confident, a feeling not shared with many members of the public…_

Matilda felt slightly annoyed, what she had taken to be serious news was just a paranoid rambling designed to create anxiety. She couldn't see how prisoners without wands could be a match for ministry trained guards who were loyal to justice. Unlike these terrible dementors she had heard so much about who's loyalties lay with whoever could supply them with fresh prey to suck the happy feelings from. Matilda glanced at the picture of the reporter, Rita Skeeter, she had seen her before, always with the same reports trying to create gossip. She had the look of a woman who was aging badly but doing everything she could to avoid the process.

Matilda soon tried to push her worries from her mind and became swept up in the excitement about the triwizard tournament again. Still clutching her last slice of toast Matilda left the great hall for potions. Next to her, Sarah was still talking rapidly about the tournament.

'Of course I'll learn more in the next two years,' she was saying, 'so I think academically I should be prepared for it. But could I actually do it? If I faced with a dragon or something terrible cold I keep my cool?'

Matilda listened to her, imagining a gigantic black Norwegian Ridgeback, like the picture she had seen in her Care of Magical Creatures textbook. She could see herself stumbling out from behind a rock into a gigantic stadium, shaking from head to toe and armed only with a wand. She felt stupid and terrified just thinking abut it and decided that if she was seventeen by the time the tournament came around, she would definitely not enter. Unless a miracle happened in the next two years that suddenly made her top of the class. As Matilda thought about this she lost track of where she was walking, always clumsy she banged straight into someone and dropped her bag, spilling several books over the floor.

'Here let me help you,' the person she had bashed into said. It was Hugo Weasley. As soon as his pale blue eyes met hers she went pink, angry at herself for doing so.

'Oh,' was all she managed to say and then with a tight knot loosening in her stomach she remembered something, 'oh,' she repeated, 'thanks. I read about your mum in the Daily Prophet, it's really great what she's doing for elf rights.'  
Hugo smiled warmly at her and Matilda smiled back despite herself. She found to her horror that her face was burning even more. 'Thanks a lot,' Hugo said, 'mum's really happy, she sent me an owl last week, the campaign is going really well.'

'That's great,' Matilda said. A horrible silence passed between them. She scooped up the books from his arms, careful not to touch his hand in case her face reached volcanic heat.

'Hey wait,' Hugo said as Matilda turned to leave, hiding her face. Her heart skipped a little, what was he going to say? He was holding up a single gold Galleon. 'You dropped-' His face turned dark, 'where did you get this?' he asked, his voice matching his face.

'What?' Matilda was taken aback by his sudden change of mood. She was worried she had done something to offend him. 'My-my Aunt gave it to me,' she stammered as he half-glared at her. 'Only nice thing she even did for me really,' she found herself babbling, 'she's a horrible woman really. She used to visit my family all the time but she's stopped now thank-god. She thought a lot of me apparently though, though I was 'special,'' Matilda Grimaced, 'she criticised everything, wouldn't let me and my brother have any fun that wasn't 'organised' as she put it. When she gave it to me I had just started to show signs of magic, but of course I had no idea what the coin was at the time, I just thought it was pretty.'  
'Where did your Aunt get it?' Hugo asked, eyeing Matilda so suspiciously that she avoided his eyes.

'She said she just found it on the ground,' Matilda said quickly, she had no idea why he was looking at her like this. 'I always saw it as a sign that I belonged in the magical world, I keep it with me as a lucky charm. But it's not like other Galleons; if you look around the edge you'll see it says-'

'Dumbledore's army,' Hugo said darkly, 'I noticed, 'and a date instead of a serial number.'

'Yeah,' Matilda said, 'obviously I knew all about Dumbledore so I knew it wasn't ordinary, I wondered if it was made to commemorate him or something.'

'No quite,' Hugo whispered, turning the Galleon over in his hands. Viewing Matilda's confused face with something like surprise and shock. 'Dumbledore's army were an organisation my father belonged to,' he said in a small voice, 'you haven't read about them?' Matilda shook her head. 'It was run by Harry Potter,' he finished.

Matilda gaped at him. 'Really?' she said, 'what a coincidence.'

'Yes,' Hugo said in a voice that sounded like it was no coincidence at all. 'Yes I suppose it must be. Matilda, where is your Aunt now?'

After getting over the shock that he knew her first name Matilda registered what he had just said with bewilderment. 'I-what?' was all she managed to say, she had no idea why he was asking her these questions. Yes it was a big coincidence, but it wasn't impossible, her Aunt was a muggle, horrid though she was, what did she have to do with anything? 'She's in prison,' Matilda said in a small cold voice, usually the family didn't like to talk about this. 'She was on the run for a while though, it was very mysterious, she worked for the Government but no one actually knew what she did. Apparently she supported a policy which was outlawed. Crimes against the public or something, sounds like her though, power hungry old toad.'

Hugo looked at her with mingled confusion, shock and a slight smirk beginning to form. It was as if Matilda suddenly remembered how handsome he was and she blushed yet again. He seemed to compose himself very quickly, 'Well, here you go,' he said, placing the Galleon on top of the pile of books in Matilda's arms. And he left without saying another word to her. Matilda hovered between the great hall and the entrance hall, wondering what on earth that had been about.


End file.
